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Did a Reporter Have a Stroke on TV?

It began as a typical segment on the local news — a beaming television journalist preparing for a live report from the Grammy Awards. But as Serene Branson, a Los Angeles CBS reporter, began to speak, she uttered a few real words that turned into a stream of gibberish.

The video quickly went viral as bloggers mocked her slurred words and strange speech. “Somebody call an exorcist,” joked the celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. (He later removed the post.)

But now it appears that the Emmy-nominated Ms. Branson had suffered a stroke or related health problem that impaired her ability to speak.

“What a terrifying event,” said Dr. Daniel Labovitz, assistant professor of neurology at Einstein School of Medicine and attending stroke neurologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. “I very strongly suspect this was a stroke or transient ischemic attack.”

Ischemic strokes and T.I.A.’s are caused when a blood clot blocks blood flow to part of the brain. In the case of T.I.A., the blockage clears before permanent damage occurs, and the patient may quickly return to normal.

He said her speech problem suggests she had a blockage in the part of the brain that involves speech comprehension, but not speech production. Her speech pattern was characteristic of a condition called Wernicke aphasia. “The patient is pretty much unaware of the problem they’re having, and they are speaking fluently, with normal musicality of speech, but the words that come out are completely wrong,” he said. “Everything that’s coming out is unintelligible even though it sounds like language.”

Dr. Labovitz noted that because he doesn’t know Ms. Branson’s full medical history, he can’t be certain of her diagnosis, but the video is strongly suggestive of a stroke or T.I.A. He said it is highly unusual for such a problem to be captured on video. “This is more information than I’m usually going to get when someone has had a T.I.A.,” he added.

“I don’t think we saw the stroke start,” he said. “I think it may have begun before the camera started rolling. She was standing there smiling, completely unaware there was a problem until she attempted to speak, and even then she was not really aware she was making no sense because she kept talking.”

Ms. Branson couldn’t be reached, and KCBS officials didn’t return phone calls. The station issued a statement about Ms. Branson, saying she had experienced “some health-related problems” during the newscast and was examined by paramedics immediately. The station said her vital signs were normal, she was not hospitalized and a colleague gave her a ride home.

“And while Serene says she is feeling better today, she wants us to know she followed up with a visit to the doctor for some medical tests,” the statement said.

Dr. Labovitz said he was “shocked” to hear Ms. Branson went home, because anyone displaying strokelike symptoms should go to the hospital immediately. He said it’s possible that the symptoms disappeared quickly, and that given her young age and apparent good health, the event no longer seemed like an emergency after it was over.

“That’s exactly the wrong thing,” he said. “Even if it wasn’t a stroke, you need to get it checked out. It’s a tremendous opportunity for her to talk about what stroke is and what T.I.A. is, and what to do. You don’t go home. This is a 911 scenario. Her risk of stroke for the first few days after an event like that is extremely high.”

Dr. Labovitz said the kind of aphasia Ms. Branson displayed is less common than other stroke symptoms like weakness on one side, vision loss or balance problems, but it’s not rare either. He said he hopes Ms. Branson will eventually talk about the experience to get the message out about how to recognize and respond to strokelike symptoms.

“The nature of this kind of injury is that the patient is the last to know there is a problem,” he said. “I would guess that until she saw the video she wasn’t aware of how bad it was. You can only feel for her. She’s got a real chance here to get a message out.”

Feb. 18 10:49 a.m. | Updated Ms. Branson and her doctors have released statements saying her symptoms were related to a severe migraine. Click on this CBS Los Angeles link to hear more from Ms. Branson, who discusses the event with anchorwoman Pat Harvey.

My mother died of a major stroke only 24 hours after having a mini-stroke. Because she was a woman – they downplayed it and never ran the appropropriate tests. Women have strokes – and when they do- it’s usually very subtle and they come and go quickly, like the woman in the video.

Mot women feel flu-like symptoms and have episodes of dizziness and nausea. I know many women who have died od a stroke because the ER sent them home with a diagnosis of “the flu”.

Everyone needs to know ALL the symptoms of a stroke and doctors need to treat women like the men and NOT release them from the ER without doing ALL the tests that they would on a man.

Most people who have mini-strokes don’t remember having them and they will have memory loss or talk in “baby Talk” or some incoherent manner. Stroke symptoms are different for everyone.

Exact same thing happened to me years ago when I was about 20 and the doctor told me it was possibly the onset of a migraine and sent me home. Super scary and I didn’t even know anything was wrong until my roommate got totally freaked out and asked me why I was talking funny. Very traumatizing experience and I’ve never heard of it ever happening to anyone else.

It’s not necessarily a stroke. I have been dealing with a similar issue for over a year, where I periodically lose my ability to speak or understand language. It’s been determined not to be TIA, and is more likely a seizure of some kind.

Horrible that it had to happen to her in such a public forum, I’ve been fortunate that my issues came on gradually. I sound exactly like her if I try to speak during an episode though.

That’s why I was hesitant in jumping on the bandwagon and making fun of her. It was obvious something was wrong. Im from LA and i watch serene all the time and she’s a great reporter. Hopefully she gets the correct medical attention she needs.

But let’s be clear -this doctor never examined the reporter and has no basis for his argument other than his experience as a neurologist and a :30 video of a woman he never met.

FROM TPP — That’s true and he states in the story that he doesn’t know for sure. But he does know she appeared to experience some type of neurological event and he makes the point that most of the time when he is diagnosing these transient events, he has far less information to go on than a 30 second video. Whatever was going on with her, she should have been rushed to the hospital, given the symptoms.

I chose not to watch the video of Serene Branson having speech problems, but I read the article. My heart goes out to her. I hope she gets to the bottom of this, protects her health, and has a long and successful career.

This poor woman most certainly was experiencing a TIA or some form of stroke.
How incredibly unfortunate that the media can be so insensitive and ignorant. Hopefully she will seek medical attention immediately and be able to leave this episode behind her.
My best to her and her family…http://www.SFherbalmedicine.com

PS: Although difficult to diagnose from afar/video, her symptoms do seem to point to some form of neurological event — be it TIA, seizure, or other diagnosis.
For any individual to not recognize that immediately, and pass judgment on her, or ridicule her, shows a sad state in our public psyche.

I’m not sure anyone with any familiarity with neurological symptoms can say anything but that further immediate evaluation is necessary. Whether it was a stroke, TIA, or seizure, a potentially crippling — even lethal — incident may be in the wings and it’s useful to discuss the proper follow-up.

My grandmother had several documented TIA episodes over the last decade of her life (and who knows how many when undocumented since she lived alone much of that time). In one case she blacked out briefly while dressing, and realized something was wrong when she found herself pulling on a second pair of slacks over the pair she already had on. The second known TIA displayed with Wernicke aphasia at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. Eight years later she had her 3rd known episode, also with Wernicke aphasia. By chance it happened right as my mother and I called her to say hello.

When I first saw the video yesterday, I immediately thought it was TIA or a seizure. Whatever it was, I hope she gets the medical care she needs, and does not have any serious long term problems.

Best to her, of course, but she is foolish for going home when there is obvious neurological trouble of some sort.

FROM TPP — I don’t think foolish is a fair word. she must have been terribly confused and frightened, and by the time the paramedics were there, she was probably fine again. We don’t know the details, but I don’t think we can’t blame her for making an error in judgment under the circumstances.

I applaud your reading the comments and moderating them. (If only David Brooks would respond to his criticisms). You certainly take reporting to a level beyond a simple “presentation of the facts.” Cheers.

FROM TPP — Some days I do better than others, but thanks for the feedback.

In all honesty…I can’t believe how ignorant people can be, to make fun of this.
I struggle with speech issues and am in the process of beeing tested for it.
It is scary and so upsetting when it happens. It’s humiliating to not be able to communicate.
I am fortunate that I have very supportive people around me; who would never mock this.
I hope and pray that there are people as supportive for this young woman.

This case is more terrifying than embarrassing. Isn’t she still too young to have a stroke ? My wife’s father had a similar incident last week but he is in his mid 80’s. In such cases one must rush to the emergency room urgently because these cases might repeat in more severe level.http://www.lifestyle-after50.com

FROM TPP — Stroke in young people is not as common as in older people, but it’s not rare either. That’s why this is such an opportunity for Ms. Branson to raise awareness if she chooses to.

The doctor said, “She was standing there smiling, completely unaware there was a problem until she attempted to speak, and even then she was not really aware she was making no sense because she kept talking.”

I question the notion that she was “not really aware” she was making no sense. The look of confusion and horror on her face as she hears this nonsense flow out of her mouth and realizes she’s being betrayed by her brain is painful to watch. When the situation fails to clear up, she throws to the clip as quickly as she can and appears to be near tears.

I wish Ms. Branson well.

FROM TPP — Yes it is painful to watch but I imagine her camera person was signaling her as well. She definitely looked confused at the end like she just wanted to get off the air, but she clearly didn’t understand what was happening. I really hope she turns this into something positive for herself and others.

It’s a sign of the times that any event of human frailty is seized on by smug and serpentine bloggers for ridicule, even if the person has obviously suffered a medical problem. What a blight on society these creatures are!